Dec 13th Meeting
There were no visiting Rotarians and no guest at this week’s meeting.
We are not having a meeting on Friday, Dec. 20th, as we are having a Christmas Party on Thursday, Dec. 19th. It is being held at the Coldwell Banker/Tomlinson (or Group Health South for those wish) Building at 4102 S. Regal St. on the top floor. Enter the Lobby and up the stairs. The Happy Hour is from 6-7pm, and the whole event runs from 6-9:30pm. It will be a fun event and we hope to see you all there to celebrate together. Remember to bring your new sock/underwear donation for Teen Closet!
Doug Juliano made an announcement that the Club is providing $100 gift cards to needy families at Roosevelt, Franklin, Lincoln Heights, Adams and an elementary school in Spangle. There will be three cards given to each school to help make the holidays brighter.
Our guest speaker was Tom Townsend, the Board President of Teen Closet. The organization was founded in 2008 by Robyn Nance (of KXLY) and Linda Rogers (Foster Parent Assn. President), from the inspiration from a similar organization in Florida called Taylor’s Closet. Their motto is “At Teen Closet, it’s their clothes, their style, their life, their choice.”
The store is open to foster care kids, in need, homeless or near homeless children between the ages of 12 and 20. Often, foster children are taken away from their homes with no notice and only leave with the clothes on their back. DSHS used to give vouchers for clothes, but that was discontinued. Now, a social worker, HEART (Homeless Education And Resource Team) program director or counselor can fill out referral forms now to put them in touch with Teen Closet.
The store is located in Spokane Valley in the Village Square complex at 9212 E Montgomery, Suite 302. It is 1200 square feet, with clothes and products for both boys and girls. Many still have tags still on them, and are either new or near-new garments. The top choices for the shoppers are jeans, shoes and backpacks. The kids are able to shop every six months to restock their closet for different seasonal apparel. The store is open the second Saturday of every month from 8am to 1pm or by appointment only for other hours.
Tom was a foster parent who adopted his daughter. He had met with a HEART program lady who told him of Teen Closet and it spurred in him a desire to help. Each high school in Spokane has a HEART liaison that can do the referrals for Teen Closet. There are over 1100 homeless children in the Mead, Central Valley, District 81 and East Valley school districts. Many of these children don’t have experience doing their own shopping, as the only clothes they have are hand-me-downs. Often, the homeless kids are on their own and “couch-surf” at friend’s houses, but still go to school. These children lack the basic clothing necessities of coats, shoes, socks and underwear. They are especially in need of Plus-size apparel. The girls are always in need of jeans, jewelry and toiletries, like shampoo and make-up.
The Teen Closet organization is all volunteer driven and do fundraising events to raise funds. They do have corporate sponsors who help them. Please go to their website, https://teencloset.org/sponsors.php to see a total list. They often have high school children do clothing fundraisers for their service projects. Currently, the South Hill Papa Murphy’s stores are having a fundraising special, where if you bring in new socks, you will get free Cheesy Bread. The 2nd Tuesday of the month, six of their Spokane stores donate 15% of the pizza sale (bought without a coupon). They have been a fundraising contributor to Teen Closet for many years.
Members brought up the idea that we bring donations of Underwear or Socks to our Christmas Party to help keep their supplies in stock. What a great way to help out during this holiday season!